Trading Spaces: Maples Leafs Makeover Edition, part 2

Joey Crabb played unexpectantly well against the Sabres last night (Image: Bridget Samuels)

Uh-oh.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are flirting with disaster. All the silly talk of making an improbable push for the postseason is seeming less silly by the day. The Leafs notched their second consecutive victory with a 2-1 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres last night—the club’s first in Buffalo in a whopping 796 days—and moved to within six points of the Carolina Hurricanes for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Phil Kessel seems to be on the verge of a scoring streak and unknown commodities like Joey Crabb (who?) are powering the squad to victory.

It’s a recipe for success, one that could just carry the Leafs clear of the draft lottery. Of course, it would still be foolish to consider the postseason a serious possibility, but just to make sure, there’s only one thing for general manager Brian Burke to do: an immediate fire-sale of all the team’s top talent.

Speculation was rampant yesterday that Tomas Kaberle would be willing to wave his no-trade clause to go to a select number of teams, and word is that talks are already underway to ship him to the Boston Bruins. That would be a step in the right direction, but if the Leafs really want to join their basketball cousins, the Toronto Raptors, in a glorious race to the bottom, Burke will need to do more. Clarke MacArthur is looking great. Move him, we say! Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin are having career years. Move them too!